This invention relates to containers and more particularly to collapsible or knock-down containers fashioned from paperboard or like stiff, foldable and resilient sheet material.
The paperboard container art is already aware of collapsible containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,943,780 issued to Bolding discloses a collapsible bottom wall construction for a container, the bottom wall formed by separate panels sliding together as in the manner of an iris aperture stop for a camera lens. Such containers exhibit the desirable feature of ease and rapidity of being erected from a collapsed condition. Another example of a collapsible container formed of paperboard or the like is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,755 issued to Bergstein. In that construction, unlike the construction of Bolding, the bottom forming portion is smooth and continuous.
While apparently satisfactory for the intended uses described in these patents, such constructions have not been totally satisfactory in certain applications. For example, in fast food retail outlets, which dispense greasy foodstuffs such as fried chicken, the grease will sooner or later seep or wick through the paperboard. This can result in food stains on the clothing of the purchaser or wicking onto a table top supporting the container. Accordingly, an iris aperture stop type construction, such as that of Bolding, would be unsatisfactory because of the discontinuities of the bottom wall of the container. While a bottom construction such as shown in the Bergstein patent is superior in this respect, the problem of wicking through the paperboard persists and accordingly grease stains on clothing or grease on the top of a table may result.